New tea rooms and terraced garden approved for site near Rotherham town centre

It means a site on Wellgate can now be developed to provide car parking at street level, with a garden area as the site rises and a new building at the rear of the plot.

Residents had raised concerns about car parking on surrounding streets but planning conditions will be imposed to ensure the site is fenced off to prevent visitors using anything other than the formal entrance off Wellgate, making the use of streets to the rear of the site unattractive because it would then entail a long walk to enter the premises.

The business is expected to trade from noon until 11pm and Rotherham Council’s environmental health unit have raised no concerns about that, but residents have been reassured they could step in to take action if problems with late night noise nuisance were to emerge in future.

Resident Ruth Bennett told councillors: “There are double yellow lines on Clifton Terrace, but no-one comes to check. My concern is parking in the area because everywhere is congested.

“If you stick by things on the plan, it will be fine.”

Coun John Turner questioned whether a tea room business would generate the income to pay for the “fine building” to be built and questioned whether there may be an application for a different use, should the owner struggle to make the business pay in future.

“As tea rooms, I think it has the potential for an application for a change of use, which starts to make it difficult,” he said.

However, he was told the decision had to be made on the current application and that conditions would be written into the planning consent to prevent the building being turned over to a shop or being subdivided in future.

Council officials accepted there were no alternative sites around the town centre for the combination of tea room and gardens proposed for the site.